There is a tree along the walk that my husband and I take every morning with the dogs. It’s a chokecherry tree. Every spring it is covered in beautiful pink blossoms. But in late winter, it is loaded with last year’s chokecherries. And sometimes, the cedar waxwings visit.

I think they are very beautiful birds — so sophisticated, with their smooth feathers, black eye mask, and …

… rakish feathers on their heads that blow in the wind.

Waxwings got their name from the unusual waxy-looking tips to some of their wing feathers and on their tails. These tips are really keratin, like our fingernails.

As you can see, they are ready to go to great lengths to get the right chokecherries.

Cornell’s Birds of the World page says that Waxwings are the only birds outside of the tropics that is totally dependent on fruit. But they will eat insects in spring to get protein for their nestlings.

They normally live in the mountains nearby, eating cedar and mountain ash berries through the winter. But as food gets scarce, they go where the fruit is.

As soon as food starts ripening in the foothills — surprising early — they’ll be gone.